A Ghrá Mo Chroí
by kitties control my brain
Summary: “She’s very powerful. The military’s been training her for years. Much, much longer than you've even had your state alchemist license, that’s for sure. She’s been in the military for a little over eight years now.pairings?xOC.i suck arse at sumaries :b
1. Tir Gan Teanga, Tir Gan Anam

Caram's past is a mystery. All that anyone really knows is that she's got a disease, can use magic and witchcraft, and that she's been orphaned. But then she meetsAlphonse andEdward Elric. Will she ever be genuinely happy? pairings?xOC.

the title of this story in english is "...Love Of My Heart...".

Disclaimer: Don't own FMA. If I did, would I even be writing a "fan story"? Psh! Yeah right! As if!

**Aru-aru: "……"**

**Hamtaro (author): "Oh shut up! You know you luv me!" -huggles aru-aru.**

**Aru-aru: -blushes-**

**chapter title translation: (It's in Irish. You'll understand why later as the story progresses.) _"A Country Without a Language, A Country Without a Soul."_**

* * *

The tall man with jet-black hair gazed solemnly out the ample glass window into the setting sun. 

Slowly and stiffly, he turned around to face me.

"Sooo…what to do with you?"

My back stiffened up as I clenched my fists with small bunches of the hem of my skirt in my hands, as my nervousness shot through the roof like fireworks.

The tall man turned back around towards the window stiffly, turning on the heel of his foot.

"Hmmm…"

-gulp-

_Oh great, I'm in trouble again aren't I?_

_What's wrong with me?_ I thought angrily to myself. _You know you can take this guy down!_ I am almost NEVER scared of people. Especially adults.

"Hmmm…"

I gazed piercingly at the back of his neck.

_This is ridiculous. Don't talk to me like I'm lesser than you!_

On this thought, my emotional state changed from extreme nervousness, to anger, and then to being very aloof.

Nobody talks to me like this… 

I gritted my teeth in angst.

"-sigh- If you keep acting up like this, the military won't be able to take care of you anymore. You do realize that the only reason you're even here is because the Fuhrer feels sorry for you, don't you?"

Oh sure. Talk to me like I'm a helpless puppy! 

Colonel Mustang sat slowly down into his chair and rested his elbows on the deep mahogany colored desk. He placed his index fingers on his temples and rubbed them in little circles slowly, and closed his eyes like he was trying to relieve a painful headache.

I leaned back in the slick black leather couch that I was sitting in carelessly.

"Yeah right. You know you need me!" I switched to lying on my stomach so I could look the Colonel in the eye, dallying my feet around in the air carelessly, and resting my chin on my arms.

"Besides, I'm not _that_ easy to get rid of." I said boorishly.

Cause I'm not.

Mustang opened his eyes half way and gazed menacingly at me.

"I'm serious. One more slip-up, even of the _tiniest bit,_ and you're out of here. The Fuhrer won't want to keep someone around who is as lazy, foul-mouthed, abrasive, and as acrimonious as someone like you."

I narrowed my eyes at him, gritting my teeth together even harder.

"So…what do you want me to do?"

An obvious, rapacious sneer crept slowly across the Colonel's smug face.

"A very talented state alchemist, who works under me, is taking his assessment soon."

"…_and?_"

"Whether he passes his assessment or not and keeps his State Alchemist's license is going to be based on how well he fights in an upcoming battle."

I slightly raised both eyebrows at him curiously.

_Kind of like a "Battle Royal" eh?_

"But the problem is that we can't find anyone who can, or is even _willing_ to fight him. And so…"

I cut off the Colonel. I knew what he was getting at.

"And so you want _me _to fight him? Is that it?" I said sarcastically.

"Very 'straight-to-the-point' now aren't we? But yes, that's right. As a way to make it up to the military, I want **you** to fight him."

"Fine. I'll do it."

I smirked, bearing my fangs intimidatingly.

"Besides, I haven't had a good fight in awhile! So, who is the unlucky chap?" I said with my obvious Irish accent.

Mustang scooted his chair out away from his desk as he stood up, with his hands on his desk. He opened his eyes halfway and said: "I want you to fight Edward Elric. The Fullmetal Alchemist! You may've heard of him. He has quite a well known reputation around here in Central."

"Yeah yeah, I can handle him! I know who he is. He's a conceited, self-centered, ignorant, smug, pompous, cocky, dense _moron_ who thinks he's better than everyone else."

"Hmmm… Sounds just like a certain fiery _girl_ that I know." Mustang said tauntingly with a provocative gaze.

I shifted on the smooth couch, trying to get into a more comfortable position.

"Just shut up you flipping pervert."

"You know, you shouldn't talk to military personnel the way you always do, especially to a Colonel. It could get you into some trouble."

I averted my gaze to the wall directly across from the couch I was laying on.

"Like I care."

* * *

The door that led from the spacious office to the outside hallway made a creaking sound as it opened slowly. 

"Colonel Mustang?"

A young blonde woman of about 25 to 26 appeared in the doorway. Her name is Riza Hawkeye.

"Yes?" Colonel Mustang glanced over slightly at his subordinate.

"Edward and Alphonse Elric are here to see you." Her voice was very smooth and monotone.

"Good. Send them in."

The Colonel turned his chair slightly.

"I guess it's your lucky day." The Colonel was obviously being very corrosive about it.

* * *

"So Colonel, have you found anyone for me to pulverize for my assessment yet?" 

A short blonde-braided boy wearing black leather pants, a black tank top, red coat, black boots, and white gloves came waltzing into Colonel Mustangs' office proudly waving one hand in the air. Following him much LESS arrogantly than the blonde was a very large, hefty suit of armor.

As the two Elric's were walking in, I noticed something very curious and strange about them.

The sounds of their footsteps.

The suit of armors footsteps; they're hollow. Is there anyone inside? 

I began looking at them both very closely.

_And the shorter one; what's with him? The footsteps of his right foot are normal sounding…but his left foot sounds…different…how strange…

* * *

_

"Actually Edward, I have."

"Great! So, when do I get to meet him?" Edo looked very enthusiastic.

"She's right there." Mustang pointed a finger at me with a look on his face that said: _I've got you both right where I want you. This is a punishment._

Edo looked at me with disappointment in his eyes.

"But _Colonel!_ She's a girl! I can't fight a _girl!_" Ed wasn't very accessible to the idea of fighting someone like me.

I stared menacingly at Edo with a look of abhorrence.

I _detest _guys who think that fighting a girl is a bad thing; like they'll hurt them severely or something. Those types really, _really_ get on my nerves.

"What's the matter?" I sounded very loathing towards this pompous little pissant brat.

"Afraid I'll beat you into a bloody-pulp?"

"Ha! Yeah right, like someone like _you_ could ever beat _me_!"

"Brother…"

"Oh I wouldn't be so sure of myself if I were you, Edward."

"And why is that?"

Mustang walked over from his desk up beside me and put his hand gruffly on the top of my head.

"This girl has been known to be just as hot-headed and reckless as you." He ruffled my hair a bit. "In fact, I'll bet that if you'd ask anyone working here at HQ that they'd say that she's even _more _headstrong than _you_, Edward. Don't take her so lightly. That's why she's been assigned as the one to fight you as your opponent in your upcoming assessment. She's been causing the military some _troubles _let's just say, and this is how we want her to pay us back for us having to take care of her for so many years."

"You mean, the military's been taking care of this girl? For how long?" The suit of armor finally spoke up. And judging by the sound of his voice, I'd say that he was the younger of the two.

_So he's younger…I wonder how old he is._

"What about her parents? Does her family like the idea that their daughter is involved with the military."

I flinched at the thought of my parents and the rest of my family. It had been around ten _years_ since I'd seen or heard from any of them. The thought of those despicable humans, who were my "family members", stung a bit.

I looked down sadly at the floor in shame.

"M…my parents…don't…care…"

Edo and Alphonse looked at me with bewilderment.

But Mustang looked at me with sympathetic eyes, for he knew the truth.

To be honest, that's the whole reason _why_ the military takes care of me. The Fuhrer realized that I had no parents, and couldn't find any family members, neither immediate nor distant relatives, that were around _anywhere._ So, out of sympathy and pity, the Fuhrer decided that the best place for me to be that could keep me from rebelling against the state _and_ could still harness my strength, abilities, and my immensely powerful magic skills would be the military. But only a few people in this system even know the truth. Mustang knows because he was basically assigned to be the one who takes command and oversees anything and everything in which matters concerning me are involved. He's kinda like a required parent, but not exactly the parental _type._ A few others who know anything at all about my situation are Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, Major Armstrong, Schezka, and Riza Hawkeye. Including the Fuhrer, of course.

* * *

"So, where are your parents then?" The younger brother, Alphonse, asked inadvertently. 

"Um…they aren't…here…right now. They're….kind of….away…far away…"

Mustang looked at me with solace.

"Anyways, Fullmetal, when do you think would be the best time for you to have your assessment battle?" He said trying to change the subject off of my family matters.

"Oh, right! As soon as possible!" By the tone of ardor that was in his voice, he was very juiced-up about his upcoming assessment. He clenched his fist in excitement to show his readiness for the fight.

"How about tomorrow then?"

"Sure!"

The Colonel glanced at me and asked my opinion on it.

"Oh, right. Tomorrow's fine with me. I don't care."

I stretched out like a baby kitten waking up from a peaceful slumber.

"I got nothin' else better to do anyways."

"Right. Tomorrow it is then."

"Right! And prepare to lose- um…uhhh…"

Edo stared at me in confusion. That idiot didn't ever think to even ask my flippin name!

"Caramel. My name's Caramel. It means: 'In the vineyard'. 'Caram' for short.

_God, he's stupid. And this is who they all say is a 'child prodigy'? He didn't even think to ask my name! Yeah, reeeeal great impression there Mr.Clueless._

I thought to myself, rolling my eyes.

"Oh. Right. But don't think I'm gonna go easy on you just because you're a girl!"

I lifted myself up off the couch with one arm wedged between me and the couch, the other resting on my hip. I bared my cat-fangs and teeth at the shorty menacingly.

"Don't underestimate me!"

* * *

**----NEXT DAY----**

Ever since I was a little girl, I've been an insomniac. So I didn't get much sleep at all last night.

People avoided me as I sauntered down the hallway with droopy, sleep filled eyes. I was so tired that I just threw on a pair of baggy boys jeans (green), tennis shoes, red suspenders (to hold up my jeans), and a baseball style shirt that showed my stomach and was very lose. One sleeve fall's a slight way off of my shoulder, and the sleeves are a deep blue while the rest is white.

Since this was the day of Edo's assessment, I was supposed to report to the Colonel's office as soon as I woke up.

_Great._ I thought to myself with an obvious scowl of disgust. _I have to go see that little fek. What a great way to start the friggin day. –sigh-

* * *

_

-CLICK- I shut the door to the Colonel's office behind me as I walked in casually.

"So. I'm here. What do you want?"

I narrowed my eyes with a tight frown, crossed my arms and leaned against the wall as the Colonel looked me up and down.

"Well, you're sure dressed up now aren't you?" He said sarcastically.

"Yeah well, you know me! Always dress to impress. _Especially _for you." I retorted venomously back.

Mustang narrowed his eyes coldly and folded his hands in front of his mouth.

"You know…-sigh-…I really _am_ too nice. I don't understand why you hate me so much. I should just throw you out on the street for that resentful tone of voice of yours right now."

Colonel Mustang layed one hand down on the top of his desk and rested his cheek on the other. Then he looked up at me with a lewd and lascivious look in his eye.

"Of course, there are some _things _that you could do in exchange for me having to put up with you're hot-head and foul-mouth for so many years." He stated sarcastically with a sneer.

"You are repulsive you pervert…"

I turned my head to the side and looked in the other direction with crossed eyes and pursed lips. "And you wonder why I hate you so much, you eejit…"

"Hmph. Well you _do_ seem to give off that impression to people. Especially to men."

When people accuse me of being a slut, I get MAD.

Clenching my fists in anger, I walked steadily towards the Colonel and stood square in front of his desk.

"You stupid bloke! Quit being a pervert and start acting like an adult! Git' you're mind outta' the gutta'!" I shot back with an acidic tongue.

Mustang sighed, and then looked up at me with serious eyes.

Then Mustang leaned back lazily in his desk chair, tilting his head back against his chair and staring at the ceiling.

He mumbled very quietly under his breath. "It is a shame…"

Out of anger, I smacked my hands loudly on the desk again. A slight blush across my face.

"I said _stop it!_"

* * *

"Really colonel, you shouldn't talk like that to a 14 year old girl. Did you forget how old you are or something?" 

A tall man with red hair and a cigarette in his mouth walked through the doorway.

"Lieutenant Havoc!" I said in surprise.

Havoc strode up to Mustang's desk and set some papers on top.

"Merry Christmas for you, you've got more paperwork!"

"Oh great…" Mustang's face shifted from cocky to depressed within seconds, much to my delight.

Mustang however, looked up at me with longing eyes.

"You know, it's still not too late to 'make up' to me all those years."

Then his face went back to looking all cocky again. He narrowed his eyes in enjoyment.

"Just take off those suspenders and loosen your jeans a little and-"

* * *

"I SAID SHUT-UP YOU FREAK!" 

"God, are you _always _this loud in the morning?"

The short, blonde Edward walked through the door with one finger in his ear.

"You're so loud."

Alphonse stayed out in the hallway near the door.

_Why's he not coming in?_ I wondered to myself.

"Ah. Edward, you're here."

Mustang turned his chair and faced the both of us.

"Let's get down to business now, shall we?"

"Oh sure! You're just trying to change the subject so I won't go and kick you're arse!"

"Ahhh, Caramel my dear…if only you had this much energy and enthusiasm when doing _other _things for me that I wish you would do…although your _technique _and _abilities _could use a little work…"

"SHUT UP NOW!" I yelled so loudly that the room shook!

Edo stepped a few steps back from me. Then he looked at the colonel with a disgusted yet smug look on his face.

"Jeez Colonel…can't you just stop acting like such a lecher to her?"

"Thank you!" I crossed my arms over my chest. "At least _someone _agrees with me!"

Ed cocked one eyebrow in disagreement.

"Oh don't you even-"

-ahem- Mustang coughed trying to get our attention.

"Anyways you two, now that you are both here, you should both go on down to prepare for the assessment."

Mustang looked at me first.

I put my arms behind my head and crossed my legs. "-sigh- Fine…"

Then he looked over at Edo.

"And you?"

"I'm ready!"

"Why don't you head on down first, Caramel?"

"Sure. Whatever."

After I left the room and the door was closed, I glued my ear to the door to try and hear what Edo and Mustang were talking about.

"Ummm…Why are you doing that?"

A shy voice spoke up from nearby to me. It was of course Alphonse.

"…" I didn't reply. I'm not trying to be rude or anything, I was just too busy with trying to hear what they were saying.

"I don't think that you should be doing that. The Colonel will probably get mad."

At hearing that the Colonel would get mad, I whipped around and stood directly in front of Al with my hands on my hips.

"No offense and all, but I don't really _care_ if Mustang gets mad at me or not." I looked at the door with a disgusted face. "Not like anyone ever cares if _I _get mad or hurt or something anyways…"

"Uh…why do you say that?"

I shutup when I realized what I'd just said.

_Oh great, I've said too much. Now he's gonna wanna know more._

Al looked at me questioningly.

"…are you going to say anything?"

"…"

"…"

"…well…why _should_ I?"

"You don't have too if you don't want too. You just seem a little upset is all."

"Tsk…"

"Well are you upset?"

"So what if I was?"

"…oh…nothing. It's just that, if you are…"

Al looked down out of defeatand tightened his fists a little.

"Well?" I said while leaning over forward, still with my hands on my hips.

"-sigh- Never mind."

* * *

I stuck my ear against the door again to hear what Edo and Mustang were talking about. 

"Hmmm…"

I couldn't hear all of what they were saying, but this is what I could make out from what I did hear:

"_So who is that girl?"_

"_It's really none of your concern, Fullmetal."_

"_You're avoiding the question."_

"_-sigh- If you're wondering why I chose her to fight you, it's because I think you deserve it."_

"_Deserve what? You think that girl could beat me? You might as well have just passed me right now!"_

"_Don't get so cocky. That's exactly why I think you deserve to fight her."_

"_Really."_

"_She's very powerful. The military's been training her for years. Much, much longer than you've even had your state alchemist license, that's for sure. She's been in the military for a little over eight years now."_

"_Really. That long. How old is she?"_

_Why does he want to know how old I am?_ I wondered.

"_Why do you want to know?"_

"_It's not like that!"_

"_Then why?"_

"_Because even though she looks older than me, she can't be very old, even though she's been in the military for so many years."_

"_Well, how old do you think she is?"_

Why are they talking about me? 

My curiosity got the best of me, so I decided to try and look inside the office. I tapped my index finger very lightly over the key-hole in the doorknob and widened the hole with my magic just enough to see through.

I peaked through the door and listened some more.

From what I could tell, Edo shifted his weight nervously from foot to foot.

"_I-I don't know… Judging by her body, seventeen or eighteen maybe? But her face looks younger…like she's closer to my age…"_

_That idiotic pervert! Why was he even looking at my body!_ I gritted my teeth in anger.

That…little pervert… 

"_You're not even close."_

"_You mean she's older?"_

"_No. She's younger. Much younger."_

"_Really? Is she like, sixteen or something?"_

"_No. Younger. In fact, she's younger than you. She just had her birthday for the year, so she's two years younger than you are, even though she's fourteen now and you're fifteen."_

"_She's only fourteen!"_

"_Why are you so surprised?"_

"_Oh…no reason… Wait a minute! You mean she's been in the military since she was six years old!"_

"_Exactly."_

"_That's amazing… Why's she been in the military for so long? Is she a state alchemist?"_

"_No…she's much more powerful than any state alchemist. Her powers may look like alchemy to a normal person, but if you were to tell her that then she'd rip you a part limb-from-limb. And she'd enjoy it too."_

"_Wow… But that doesn't mean that I'm gonna let her beat me and win!"_

"_Whether you do that or not wont really matter. I'd advise you to fight seriously with her, for your own safety Edward."_

"_Yeah right. Whatever."

* * *

_

After that, their voices faded, and I couldn't hear them anymore.

"…so he thinks he can beat me eh? Well I wont _let _him win!"

I jumped up full of spirit about the upcoming battle in just a few short moments, with clenched fists, showing "maximum-guts".

"He wont even lay a FINGER on me! HA HA HA HAAA!" I said laughing maniacally.

"Are you sure about that? Brother isn't someone you should take lightly you know."

Al's quiet voice broke through my thoughts. I'd completely forgotten that he was still even here.

I looked over my shoulder at him with pursed lips.

"So what, are you saying that I'm a weakling or something?"

"Ah! N-no! That's not what I'm saying at all!" Al waved his hands around trying to explain what he meant.

"I just meant that you shouldn't take him lightly!"

"Right…" I turned on one heel with my arms sticking out, and walked down the hallway, headed toward the parade grounds where the assessment was going to take place.

* * *

**and just t****o clear up any confusion, several of the words and phrases caramel says are in gaelic (the irish language). example: "fek" is the irish way of saying...well...lets just say that its basically what ur saying when u flip someone off. so ya... --**

**and please review cuz i would really appreciate it! flames r NOT welcome though, cuz i dont like crying!**

**and remember children... (as envy would say)...**

**...LOVE ME!**

**oh, and if u r confused about why caram is irish, either read the later chapters as they come out to find out, or ask me (please be nice about it though...) cuz im not a moron. i KNOW ireland isnt in amestris, which IS WHY u should just be patient about it, cuz it really is relevant to caram's past.**


	2. Is Minic A Bhris Beal Duine A Shron

Disclaimer: don't own fma. I only wish that I did…. –sigh- 

**TITLE**: Is minic a bhris beal duine a shron. "Many A Time A Man's Mouth Broke His Nose."

**------AT THE PARADE GROUNDS-----**

The crowd had been cheering wildly.

The announcer pointed at Edo, who was smiling cockily with his hands in his pockets.

"In this corner! EDWARD ELRIC!"

The crowd cheered with a loud roar for Edo. Many people started yelling comments like: "Don't let her beat you kid!"

"She's just a girl! Don't let her win!"

and "There's no way a _girl_ can win!"

I clenched my fists and bit my tongue so hard that I could taste the blood in my mouth out of anger from being demeaned by those idiotic jack-asses who were making those damn sexist remarks.

Yeah right! Like he could ever beat me! There's no way I'm gonna let that little pipsqueak win! Not now, NOT EVER.

"And in this corner!"

The announcer shifted from Edo to me.

"CARAMEL EDANA!"

The crowd didn't really boo or cheer; it was more like a confused sound:

"A _girl_ against Fullmetal? That's like suicide!"

"There's no WAY she can win against him!"

"Personally, I put my money on the red-head. She looks like she's got a lot more fighting spirit in her."

"I'm rootin' for the girl! Someone needs to shut that small fry up for GOOD."

"YOU CAN DO IT GIRLY!"

"HEY! DON'T CALL ME 'GIRLY' YOU SONNOVA-GUN!" I yelled back hastily.

* * *

"Okay! Both of you, come here to the middle so I can go over the rules." 

"Right!" Both Edo and I said in unison.

Edo and I both walked up to the middle towards the announcer. Edo walked with wide, swift steps, still with that cocky smile on his face, while I on the other hand I walked up more steadily, trying to contain my anger about all those people thinking he could be ME because I'm a girl, AND because he seemed to agree judging by his attitude.

* * *

We were now in the middle of the very LARGE arena. The announcer leaned forward slightly with his mic still in hand. 

"All right kids, there are only two rules: One: No using a person who is not fighting for help. And Two: No exploding the other persons body."

I nodded my head in agreement, while Edo started smarting off.

"Yeah, yeah. Like I'm gonna hurt a _girl_. That badly!" Then he looked at me and said: "Don't worry, I'll go easy on ya'!"

Oh my god…is he serious! HIM! Go easy on ME! Yeah right! He'll be lucky if he even survives this whenever I'm done with him! Oh he is SO going to be BEGGING for mercy from me later…

"Don't get so cocky you little pissant sonnova-"

"Okay! That's enough of that! You two, go back to where you were and then we'll begin the assessment." The announcer cut me off before I could finish off my oh-so-WONDERFULLY COLORFUL words that I had for him! (Edo, that is).

* * *

The announcer left the arena in a hurry. 

"And fight!"

Before the first punch was thrown, I noticed Edo's hair. It was so blonde, and blew freely in the wind.

_That pretty-boy hair of his is gonna be so matted with blood when I'm through with him that it's going to take WEEKS to get fully out of his hair._ This went through my mind, with an intimidating sneer creeping slowly across my face. My emerald-green eyes glared menacingly at Edo, and my sharp cat-fangs were very obvious.

I cupped my hands around my mouth so Edo could hear me from such a far distance.

"Don't think that I'll go easy on you just 'cause you are stupid, dense, and incredibly oblivious and ignorant!"

Edo: "Yeah, sure, whatever!" He replied with a none-believing smile.

_Doesn't matter what you think right now, 'cause I'm gonna win no matter what!_

"Gimme you're best shot, pipsqueak!" I yelled so fiercely that my fangs could easily be seen, and I spit some saliva out while yelling.

"HEY! DON'T CALL ME PIPSQUEAK!" Edo clapped his hands together out of anger without thinking.

"Uh-huh…"

So it's true…no circles…uh? The ground…it's… 

"Whoa!"

HUMONGOUS spikes shot up rapidly from the ground right underneath me, causing me to run backwards fast enough to avoid the spikes.

"So that's how you wanna do things eh! Well fine with me!"

A yellow light appeared in front of my hands as I crossed my hands with each other with my arms stretched in front of me. The light shot off straight towards Edo with ferocious speed.

Edo immediately jumped out of the way, but the light was so fast and powerful that it grazed his left cheek and shoulder. All the way across from the corner of his lip and the edge of his left ear was bleeding from the graze from the Light Magic that I attacked him with.

"What are you trying to do, KILL me!"

"No!-"

My red hair whipped around behind me as I shot off like lightening at rocket speed towards the very short, very shocked, blonde-braided boy to attack.

"-Just trying to knock you unconscious!"

My foot skidded on the concrete ground as I halted and high-kicked Edo square in the face, causing him to go flying a couple dozen feet in the air and away from where he was standing before. He crash-landed into the concrete. A huge puff of smoke filled the surrounding area.

_Uh oh._ I groaned in annoyance, smacking my hand against my forehead. _Overdid it I guess._

My feet walked swiftly towards where he must've landed.

I looked around a few times looking for him to make sure he wasn't dead or anything yet.

"Hey! Edo, are you still alive!"

The silhouette of Edo's small body appeared vaguely through the smoke.

As he stepped closer and closer towards me slowly, I noticed that he was limping pretty badly on his right leg. He also had several scratches on his face that were bleeding.

Suddenly, I sensed something coming for me from behind and subconsciously avoided the attack by flipping to the side a few feet.

"To slow!"

My right hand reached out in front of me and shot off a sonic wave of energy towards where I sensed something before.

The sonic wave cut through the dust like a loaf of bread. Then a loud crashing sound was heard.

_What was that sound?_

* * *

Before I could even finish my thoughts, the ground crumbled beneath my feet.

"Oh shi-!"

My feet fell through the crumbling pavement beneath me.

"Grrr…"

* * *

Over the years that I've been with the military, I was in training. Mostly physical training, like my fighting skills, but also mental and emotional training, even training to enhance and increase my magic skills. So this wasn't really that much of a problem to evade because of my skills AND my cat-reflexes. 

Only seconds after falling through the ground, I immediately grabbed onto the side of the concrete with my right arm and thrusted myself up out of the hole; all within a matter of seconds. Three seconds tops.

But the edges of the concrete I had grabbed onto were pretty sharp, so I ended up with several large gashes in my hand and arm. Also, bits of concrete that were rather large went through the air hitting my face after I was out of the hole. My face was now cut some too. But still not as badly as Edo's.

* * *

When I landed back onto my feet out side of the hole on solid ground, Edo was taken aghast by my footwork. 

"H-how did you do that!"

I put my left hand on my hip and slightly shifted my weight onto my left leg.

Tossing my hair back coherently and gazing at Edo with piercing emerald eyes:

"What, you're surprised? I _told_ you that you shouldn't underestimate me!"

I veered my gaze off away in the opposite direction and raised both eyebrows in boredom.

"God, I can't believe you'd still think I was weak even after all of those warnings I gave you earlier too…"

-sigh-

Edo didn't know what to say back too me. He began stuttering.

"Ya…whu…I-I…."

I looked back at Edo.

"You sound like some moron stutterin' like that an' all."

* * *

Since Edo seemingly just became brain-dead, I took this chance to attack. 

This time, my attack wasn't magic. Instead I ran lightening fast and punched him square in the face.

I was so fast at running and attacking that Edo didn't even have enough time to respond to it and try to counter it or dodge it.

Edo's face started bleeding mildly on his right cheek.

* * *

I spun around and tried to turn kick him in the face, but this time he dodged my attack by ducking. He then clapped both of his hands together and then grabbing both of my arms. 

Agonizing shots of pain shot through every corner and nerve of my arms. I jumped back.

_What the…? What the hell did he just do…?__

* * *

_

Both my arms were limp as noodles. I had almost no feeling at all in my left arm, and my right arm was completely paralyzed.

It's not much of a handicap though. I've still got my legs you moron!

* * *

My feet moved incredibly fast at Edo to attack. But unexpectedly, he ran at me at the same time.

* * *

But this time Edo attacked ME faster than I would've expected. 

Edo had clapped his hands together and transmuted his automail arm into a blade and cut a big gash into my right shoulder all the way to my left collarbone.

" –gah- …d-dammit…" _Dammit. That little fek dug in deep.

* * *

_

Edo laughed harshly at me. "Ha! I finally and I guess you underestimated _me_ as well!"

I looked at Edo annoyingly with half-circle eyes (you know the ones.) "I didn't think that a _bean_ like _you_ was worth much is why."

Edo started flailing his arms and legs about wildly ranting and threatening me.

"WHO'S A BEAN!"

Cupping my hands around the edges of my mouth so he could hear me, I yelled back altercately: "YOU ARE, YOU BEAN-SPROUT-MIDGET-FREAK!"

* * *

Although that _obviously_ didn't make him shut up, but I knew that it wouldn't already anyways. I just said it because I didn't want him getting the last shot in. I don't ever let people beat me on insults. Plus, I just felt like it. 

Edo fell to his knees in angst, throwing a mental fit. There was even an aura of anger around him.

* * *

I stepped cautiously over towards edo. 

"What the 'el you doin'?"

"Gra…grrr…"

Out of anger and rage, Edo furiously charged at me, aiming to strike me again with his blade.

Ah. Interesting 

But I'm no moron. Like I'm even _about _to fall for a trick like _that_ again! Especially not two times in a row!

So as Edo charged at me, I leaped into the air with ease. Then to counter, I….

….landed on his face, and landed graciously on the ground again.

"Grah! You….! Stay still so I can _crush_ you!" He yelled with anger.

* * *

"Hmph!" I stuck my nose in the air scornfully.

* * *

"Heh…you shouldn't let your guard down so easily!" 

"What?"

A massive shock went through my brain as some kind of concrete object slammed into the back of my head, causing me to be paralyzed for a few short seconds.

I turned around back at Edo rapidly, throwning a mighty punch at him, but he was quicker.

"Heh."

And then he took the perfect opportunity to get me.

A quick flash came from his automail arm, and shorter than an instant later.

"What the…?"

* * *

His movements were too fast for me to respond to quickly enough.

* * *

He reached out to grab my arms again, but because I swung to the side, he missed and grabbed the right side of my stomach. 

Even more excruciating shots of pain went through me. Only this time, they were from my side where he'd grabbed me by accident.

* * *

I nearly fell to my knees from the pain when another appeared from Edo clapping his hands together. 

He didn't waste a singe second to attack me again.

But this time, he had changed his automail into something much, much harder than it was before, and punched me directly in the gut.

* * *

But the last thing that I remember was that large pools of thick blood were forced out of my body, through my mouth, and then out onto the ground. The ground was now soaked in blood. 

And then that was it. Everything went black.

* * *

**EDO'S POINT OF VIEW

* * *

**

The crowd gasped at the sight of the fiery redhead fell to her knees and then out cold on the ground.

I stepped back a step shocked from all the blood that came from her once strong, but now very fragile body.

* * *

The crowd shouted. 

"Somebody should help her!"

"She needs some medical attention!"

"What happened? I can't see!"

"What happened to her!"

"Yeah! I told you he'd beat her!"

"Someone, get a doctor!"

* * *

"Ed!" 

Al came running up out of the crowd to me frantically.

"What'd you do to her nii-san! She's coughed up so much blood!"

"I-I didn't know…that…"

Al looked down at me. "We should go bring her to the colonel. Maybe he can help."

"R-right…"

* * *

I bent down on my knees and tried to scoop her up in my arms to carry her to the colonel, but my automail was broken and wouldn't move at all, so I couldn't. 

I looked at Al nervous about why she coughed up so much blood. Most people wouldn't be able to even _survive_ losing that much blood.

"Al, my automail's broken so I can't carry her. You're going to have to take her."

Al nodded his head understandingly.

"Right."

Al bent down and scooped her up into his arms.

She looked so small in Al's large metal arms. She looked so much different from her usual crude and sarcastic self.

* * *

AL'S POINT OF VIEW She looks so small…

* * *

She looked so different compared to me. On our first meeting, she seemed so much different. It's almost easy to forget that underneath her rough exterior, she's still just a fourteen-year-old girl. But when she's unconscious like this, it's surprising really. Even her atmosphere seems to change.

* * *

"Al! Come on, we have to find Mustang quickly!" 

"Ah! Right."

We climbed through the frantic crowd and left the arena, in search of Mustang and some answers about this unusual girl.

* * *

**yay! well, there's the second chapter for u! and surprisingly, its only four pages shorter than the first chapter. when I started typing this chapter, i was actually worried that it wouldnt be long enough… but i guess i dont have to worry about that now, now do i? well, please review! oh and flames r still NOT welcome, but questions r! (just dont be mean when asking questions k?) now its time for me to start working on the third and fourth chapters! -starts cracking knuckles, neck, back, arms, ankles, toes, etc……- gotta limber up and get ready for several days and nights with no sleep to do this. –hits keyboard- alright! im gonna do this thing!**


	3. Scileann Fion Firinne

"**Scileann Fion Firinne.": "Wine Let's Out the Truth."**

For the first time in several months I had had a full, good nights rest.

When I reached up above my head, my muscles tightened up tremendously, causing me to drop my arms in pain.

Owww… 

I held my arms and tried to massage the pain out of my very sore muscles. I winced in pain.

I guess that whatever Edo did to my arums must've really done some damage… 

"Dammit…"

Slowly climbing out of bed, trying not to move my arms at all, I noticed how brightly the sun was shining through my window; vibrant pools of the early morning suns colorful rays danced across the cold, hard-wood floor boards of my room.

Squinting my eyes from the brightness, I thought to myself: _I wonder who must've brought me back into my room._ Then, I looked down and noticed that my clothes that I'd been wearing yesterday were still there. Bloodstains and all.

I guess Edo's punch must've been a lot harder than I thought…but even that shouldn't have-

And that's when I noticed it.

The bits of dried blood that were on my face, hands, and the very LARGE blood stain that completely saturated my shirt, stomach, and a few spots on my jeans.

Oh no.

My eyes widened in shock.

Whenever Edo punched me in the gut, it must've caused me…and that's why… 

"No…"

I sighed a deep, depressing sigh.

"Great…well, I guess they know my secret now…or at least one of them…" I had shifted my weight onto my right leg and put my hand on my hip. Then I closed my eyes.

"Well…what's done is done."

My eyes opened slightly half-way and shifted to the floor.

"Now…how am I going to explain this to them?"

Nobody knew about this secret of mine, except for Mustang, Armstrong, and Hughes. But not even the Fuhrer himself knows about it!

"Well…sigh I guess I should go and clean myself up first."

The bathroom was a pale orange color. It was supposed to make me feel more cheer and sunny, but it never worked. The only reason that I didn't change the color was because orange is my favorite color.

The bathroom was a very small bathroom, but I make do. There is a wide window in the bathroom that overlooks the courtyard of the military dorms. On the windowsill, there are several small ornaments of unicorns and dragons, plants, and little bags of potpourri to keep the air smelling fresh.

I placed my hand very gently on one of the faucet knobs and slightly turned the knob, allowing the cold, crystal clear water to run through the faucet and move smoothly into the spic-and-span clean white sink.

I griped the sides of the sink firmly and hunched over the running water, gazing solemnly into the mirror.

What looked back at me in the mirror was still me, but with several blood stains on my face.

How much of that blood is from when he punched me? 

"Gak…"

I must've been gripping the sink too tightly or have been hunched over too much, because quick shots of pain ran through my arms and to the tips of my fingers.

Guess that little fek must've really done something- 

A tight feeling in my lungs interrupted my thoughts.

"Guk…mpf"

My lungs squeezed tightly as I coughed up large amounts of blood. The once spot-less sink was now caked with bright red stains of blood.

Oh great…guess it wasn't all out of my lungs.

"Nnnn…"

I tightly held my stomach, wincing in pain where Edo had punched me.

What'd he do? Even with an automail arm like that, his punch shouldn't have hurt me this much, or even left half the damage that it did.

Cupping my hands together under the running water-faucet; the cool, clear water felt good on my rough hands.

I reached for the rose-scented pink bar of soap to use to wash off the dried blood from my face. My muscles relaxed once the cool soapy water kissed my grimy face.

I scrubbed harshly at my face, lifting away the blood and grime off and watching it go down the drain.

Great, what am I going to do now? 

After washing my face and cleaning myself up properly, I searched frantically throughout H.Q. for someone who could give me an explanation as to what must've happened.

I ran blindly down the hallway. Not really paying much attention as to where I was going, I accidentally ran headfirst into Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes.

"Whoa!"

The impact from me running into Hughes was so strong and automatic that I fell hard onto the stiff floor.

"Owww…"

I shut my eyes and rubbed my back with one hand.

"Oh, Caram! I was looking for you." Hughes said, sounding very surprised to see me.

I looked up at Hughes questioningly; wondering why he was looking for me in the first place. I had an idea of what the reason might've been, but was praying that I was wrong.

"Ummm…Lt. Colonel Hughes, may I ask _why_ you've been looking for me?" I wasn't being snotty or anything, because I really did want to know why.

"Well you see, it's about yesterday."

Oh no, please don't be what I think it is… 

"About the fight, that is."

A sick, sinking feeling hit my stomach like a huge lead weight. It _was_ what I thought it was.

"Even though Edward knocked you out, you were still the winner, even though _officially_ Edward was announced the winner, but the only reason he had even won was because he took that one last shot to your gut. But since that was an obvious cheap-shot, you were really the-"

"A cheap shot eh?"

Lt. Colonel Hughes was cut-short in mid-sentence by a scratchy voice that came from behind me. He placed a cold white-gloved hand softly on my head, causing my shoulder muscles to tighten-up and become even tenser than they already were.

A very annoyed and disgusted look came over my face like a dark cloud in front of the sun.

Oh great. I'd know that cocky and arrogant voice from anywhere.

"Oi…" I looked in the opposite direction out of annoyance.

"Oh, hey Edward."

"sigh…hey, you smug jerk-off."

The person standing behind me was Edo.

"So…what're you two talking about?" he asked coyly.

Maes sighed and looked at both Edo and I.

"Well, since Ed is here now, I think that you two should go on ahead and talk about what happened yesterday with Mustang. Besides, if anything it's more of his business to explain everything to you than it is mine anyways."

Edo looked up curiously at Maes, slightly ruffling my hair.

"Huh? Why him?"

Hughes just shrugged his shoulder and walked off down the long hallway silently leaving Edo and I with no explanation.

"Get your hands _off_ of me!" I yelled at Edo, jerking away from his hand. "Don't _touch_ me! Better yet, just leave me _alone!_"

"Uh…"

I took off running down the hallway towards Mustangs office. Edo reached his arm out trying to grab me and stop me, but I was too fast for him so he missed, only grabbing the air.

People in the hallway stared at me as I ran by them briskly.

I finally stopped in front of the tall doors, which lead to the inside of Mustang's office. Stumbling inside of his office, I ran up to Mustangs desk and slammed my hands down on his desk. "Mustang…what happened? Does Edo know!"

Mustang looked up at me from his paperwork on his desk questioningly. "What are you talking about?"

"Yesterday! The battle assessment!"

"Ah. That. Wel-"

Edo waltzed into the room. "That's exactly what _I_ want to know!" Edo glared at me confused. "What _happened?_"

Mustang sighed a painstaking sigh. He looked sternly at Edo. "Well, I guess I should just start from the beginning. You see Edward, Caramel is sick, to put it bluntly. She has the illness Tuberculosis."

Edo's eyes widened to the size of saucers.

"Y-you mean…"

Mustang interrupted Edo's sentence abruptly. "It takes a lot for it to effect her, but that blow to the stomach that you gave her at the end of the battle assessment yesterday was just the thing that could trigger it to."

Edo looked down at the ground shocked. He began to stutter. "I-I…didn't know…" Edo looked up at me with sympathy and pity in his eyes, making me feel uncomfortable.

I stepped back a couple of steps towards the door.

"D-don't look at me like that! Get that look out of your eye! I don't want your pity or sympathy, or anyone elses!"

I grabbed the brass doorknob of the large doors. I spat back hatefully at Edo right before I left the room: "_I don't need anything from you!"_ I slammed the door behind me so hard that it echoed all throughout the hallway.

Outside of H.Q. the sun was very bright. There wasn't a single area of the courtyard that the suns rays left dark and untouched.

I spotted a large sycamore tree. It's leaves were of a rich texture, getting ready for the end of summer, and beginning of fall. The suns rays glowed through the thick branches and down onto the grass in little spots below it.

I walked slowly to the tree and sat down on one of it's larger roots that stuck out of the ground. I wrapped my arms around my knees and rested my chin on my knee caps. There was a slight wind out that day, causing my long knee-length hair to sway along with the wind. The leaves were scurrying across the ground like they were trying to seek shelter from everything.

I began to think.

So what if he knows I've got this problem? It's not the worst thing he could ever learn about me.

I narrowed my eyes in agitation._ He better not treat me like I'm some kinda' cripple! I'll kick his arse if he does!_

My thoughts were interrupted by a soft voice.

"Hey lady, isn't something wrong? Are you hurt?"

I looked up slightly surprised to see that the small voice was coming from a little boy. He had dark brown hair that was cut short. His eyes were large and full of curiosity for life. He looked about the age of four or so.

I softened my expression and smiled gently at the little boy. He looked so adorable.

"No. Don't worry, I'm fine."

"Ogay!" He said with his childish voice.

I laid my legs flat on the ground outstretched and leaned back slightly on my hands calmly.

"So, what're you doing here little boy?"

"I'm looging for my sista'. I can't find her."

"Oh, are you lost? What's your name?"

"My name's Meiji."

"Well, maybe I can help you. What's your sisters name?"

"My sisters name is Lundy."

I stood up and clasped the boys hand in mine. "Well, don't worry cuz I'll help you look for her. We'll find your sister."

"Ogay." Meiji said looking up at me with his innocent eyes.

Meiji and I walked all across the courtyard and looked around every corner searching for his older sister.

"Where did you last see her?" I asked.

"Inside."

"Okay, lets go check back inside then, shall we?"

Meiji nodded his head in agreement.

"She gets 'wost a lot."

I chuckled at that. "I'm sure she does."

We walked up to the secretaries desk and asked if she knew where a girl named "Lundy" might be.

The secretary said that she worked in one of the offices. She was a lieutenant for one of the colonel's.

God, how ironic would it be if she was actually a lieutenant for Colonel Mustang... I thought to myself, laughing at the thought.

I asked if she might know which Colonel she worked under. "I don't know off the top of my head, but hold on a minute. I'll see if I can find out." Said the secretary.

She turned in her chair to a stack of papers.

Meiji and I sat down on two hard-wood chairs in front of the secretaries desk. The chairs had no cushions and were of cheep material.

Mmhmm. It's just like the Fuhrer to chose something like this. I thought.

I turned to Meiji and asked: "So, what does your sister look like?"

"She has long purple hair. It's kinda wavy too."

"Really? How long is her hair? Is it longer than mine?"

Meiji looked my hair up and down with wide eyes. "It's not longer 'dan yours. Yours is 'weally 'wong."

"So then where does her hair go to?" I asked curiously.

Meiji placed his hand on the small of his back. "To here."

"Is she tall?"

"No. She much shorter 'dan you are."

The secretary turned back around to Meiji and I. "I found it. She works under Colonel Archer."

Meiji and I got up from our seats. I had to wait a little while for Meiji to get out of his seat because he's so small that his feet barely even reach the edge of the chair.

Meiji and I walked down the long hallway on the first floor of Central H.Q. all the way to Colonel Archers office.

Once we were there, I poked my head inside the office. "Ummm…is anyone here?" I asked.

A girls voice Squealed slightly. "Oh! Meiji!"

The short purple haired, red-eyed girl ran up to Meiji and swooped him up in a big bear-hug.

"There you are Meiji! I've been looking all over for you!"

"So, are you Meiji's older sister then?" I asked.

The young girl looked only a little older than me. She looked over at me curiously. "And you are…?"

"My name's Caramel. I work under Colonel Mustang. I was sitting outside when Meiji walked up to me saying he couldn't find his older sister. I offered to help him."

The girl narrowed her eyes slightly at me accusingly. "I don't like Meiji to associate with strangers. Even if they work for the military like I do."

The once calm atmosphere around her changed to a much cooler one. I had a few "colorful" words that I wanted to say to her for that, but I held my tongue.

"Well, my name is Lundy. And yes, I'm Meiji's older sister. And I do thank you for helping him."

Even though she thanked me, it didn't sound very sincere. That atmosphere didn't budge one little bit.

"Well, I'll just let you get back to your work. Bye." I flicked my hand in a quick wave as I headed slowly towards the doorway.

"Wait." Lundy stopped me.

I turned around and looked at her in the face.

"Could…could you not tell anyone about this? About my little brother?" she asked looking at me with a little more acceptance in her eyes. But not much.

"Sure. I won't tell anyone."

I turned back around and walked out into the hallway.

* * *

**NO EFFING FLAMES MORONS! god, and STOP BING BOUT HOW MUCH U LUV WINRY OR THINK THAT ALXWINRY IS PERFECT CUZ ITS NOT! ITS GOD-AWFUL DISGUSTING! winry is a SLUT, a B, and a HOE! anymore questions class! well, even if there ARE, I DONT CARE SO SHUTUP! i have said it OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER so many times to u all about how i HATE winry, so stop leaving me messages about how much u all luv her cuz I. DONT. CARE. oh, and u know what else? just because i call alphonse "aru-aru" or say "lubable" doesnt mean u have any right in existance to make fun of me for it, get mad at me for it, OR USE IT WITHOUT GIVING ME CREDIT FOR MAKING THOSE WORDS UP! ya, i want reviews, but NICE ones. ones COMPLIMENTING this story, or ones that r ASKING QUESTIONS AND NOT COMPLAINING OR RANTING ABOUT HOW MUCH U LUV WINRY! NOOOOO FLAAAAAAMES EVEEEEEEERRRR!**


	4. Imigh Sa Diabhal

"Imigh Sa Diabhal! **"**

**Translation: "**Go To The Devil.**_"_**

**Okay, I haven't done a disclaimer or anything for awhile so im gonna do one right now. But let me first make one thing clear (again). The reason caramel calls ed edo is cuz _I_ call him "edo" in real life! It isn't cuz of something like "luv at first site" (good god not that….) and u really wont know who she likes. But for now, u'll all be surprised to find out later on (maybe. But u wont if u know me and none of u really do, OR if u pay close attention to EVERYTHING). And also, IF YOU LIKE WINRYxAL PAIRINGS AND READ MY STORY AND CRITICIZE ME, THEN GO TO HELL!!!!!!!!!! But If u like winryxal pairings (no matter how much I hate saying this…) then its fine as long as u don't go on bitching about how much u hate caramel like a certain SOMEBODY did! **

**Disclaimer: don't own fma. Heck, I don't even own my own undies……….**

………………**.they r rentals. -- -sweatdrops-**

Creak.

Creak.

Creaaaaaaaaak.

The rusty ceiling fan squeaked and creaked slowly as it turned in circles above me.

_Why does she work under Colonel Archer???…_

I laid on my back on top of my bed sheets; arms behind my head as a pillow with one leg up and the other propped up on my other legs knee.

There was a tooth pick in my mouth that I had been chewing on intently for quite some time.

My brain wondered through several ideas, but they were all pretty far fetched.

Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

A soft knocking came from the other side of my room's door.

I sat up on one arm and looked at the door.

"Come on in. It's unlocked."

The doorknob turned slowly as I heard an annoyingly familiar voice.

"Shouldn't you be eating right now?"

I flopped back down onto my back looking back up at the ceiling fan.

Creak.

Creak.

Creak.

"-sigh- I'm not hungry right now…"

Colonel Archer was now standing in the doorway leaning casually against the doorsill with his arms crossed slightly.

"You know, you shouldn't skip meals. After all…" he hissed like a snake.

I sat back up with piercing eyes.

" 'After all' what?"

"…well, we will need you as a weapon someday. Maybe."

I growled and bared my cat fangs at him threateningly.

"Every time you get mad, you always do that. So predictable…." He smirked.

Creak.

Creak.

Creak.

"Maybe 'cuz you're a jack-ass all the time? Oh NOOOOOO. It just COULDN'T be that now could it?" tilting my head and waving one hand around mockingly: "…oh HEAVENS no."

Archer took a small breath.

"Anyways, I'm not here to fight with you." Archer crossed one leg in front of the other.

"I want to know _why_ you were talking to my subordinate?"

I looked at him confused. "Subordinate? You mean the girl with purple hair?"

"Yes her."

"Well…"

I almost told him about Meiji when I stopped myself just in time. _That's right, I promised I wouldn't tell anyone about me finding him…_

So I lied.

Besides, I don't owe Archer any explanations on what I do during my days here.

"I just heard that there was a girl working under you that I had never met before, so I had decided to pay her a visit."

I narrowed my eyes coyly and leaned on both arms. My weight was shifted more towards my right shoulder, with my shoulder in front of my face a bit.

Mockingly again: "After all, I was just making sure that she was good enough for YOU, Colonel Archer."

Colonel Archer narrowed his snake-like eyes and stared at me with one corner of his mouth raised in slight disgust. He looked as if he was about to say something, but then walked out of my doorway.

"…freak…" I spat under my breath.

Then, the footsteps I thought were getting farther away suddenly stopped, then became louder and louder.

Colonel Archer stood outside of my doorway once again.

"Don't interfere."

And then, he just walked away. Without saying another word.

But now that just gave me one more thing to wonder about.

What did he mean by "don't interfere?"

I sat on the side of my bed swinging my legs around carelessly, looking up at the fan chewing some more on the tooth pick, wondering what he meant by _that._

A loud grumbling sound interrupted my thoughts.

I placed my hand on my stomach and looked down.

_Well, I guess I really should go and eat. I'm hungry anyways._

Standing up from my bed, I started to head on down to get some dinner from the cafeteria.

After getting the food from that very long line of people, I had sat down and was staring at what _looked_ like mashed potatoes, bread, and some kind of un-identifiable meat…..thing……

"Ewww……" I made a disgusting face at this pile-'o-mesh that they call "food".

"I could make better food than this….."

I picked up my fork and pocked around at the food carefully, like it might explode if touched it the wrong way.

"You know, it's better for you to actually _eat_ the food than it is for you to just play with it." I heard someone say sarcastically.

Lieutenant Havoc pulled out a chair from across the table and sat down. He leaned over and picked up my loaf of bread but I immediately grabbed it from him and put it in my mouth instead. He looked at me slightly surprised.

"Sooooo. What do _you _want Lieutenant Havoc?" I asked with a crooked smile and one eyebrow raised.

"Nothing really."

"Riiiiight." I said non-believingly.

"Actually, I came here to tell you something."

_Ha. Thought so, you liar._

"What is it?"

"The Fuhrer wants you to take on a mission."

I looked at him cautiously.

"What _kind?"_

"I don't know. He wouldn't tell me. All he said was that I had to tell you to go to him immediately." Havoc then reached over and smushed his cigarette butt out on my tray.

"Hey!" I yelled at him.

"Don't _do_ that you dumb-ass!"

I narrowed my eyes and snatched my tray away from him. "FINE. I'll just go now then.", walking off with the entire loaf of bread in my mouth. Havoc just watched me as I left the cafeteria.

_Damn. Damn. Damn._

I thought to myself hastily as I walked furiously down the halls and towards the Fuhrer's office.

_God, what do I have to do now? It's already nine 'o clock at night! What kind of mission would he send me on at this time???_

The door creaked slowly open as I walked into the Fuhrer's office. _Jeez…how many times have I been up here??? More than I care to count, that's for sure._

"Ah, Caram. Come in." The Fuhrer was facing the back wall in his office. He turned around in his chair and looked at me with his disturbing smile.

_I swear, there's something strange about that man's smile…_

"So, Lieutenant Havoc sent me up here. He told me that you had a mission for me." I stood directly in front of his desk with both of my thumbs hooked into my belt loops.

"Yes. I do have a mission for you."

"Well, what is it?"

The Fuhrer's smile crept even higher up on his cheeks like a snake and tapped his fingers against the desk-top.

He looked at me directly in my eyes and asked seriously: "Caramel, have you ever heard of the 'Philosophers Stone?'"

"Ya. I know exactly what that is."

"Well…"

He turned back around facing the wall behind his desk. "Then you must know that it is just a myth right?"

"…." I didn't answer because I know that it is no myth, but contradicting the Fuhrer on something like this would be a very, VERY stupid thing to do.

"There have been reports of several officers saying that they have actually _seen_ the Philosophers Stone."

"And what do you want me to do about that?"

"Well, the rumors say that there is something going on about the stone at the fifth lab."

"So, you want me to go to Lab 5 and see?"

"No." The Fuhrer said very sternly. He then looked at me directly in the eye very seriously. "You _must _promise me that you _will not _go there until I say so. Right now, I just want you to see if you can find anything out about it."

"So then, where do you want me to start looking?"

"Just around the execution grounds. People have been saying that there is something strange there, and they think it might have some sort of connection to the stone. It's _your _job to stop these rumors."

"Right." I nodded my head understandingly.

"I want you to go and investigate. I don't want rumors like this getting around. If that ever happened then not only would all eyes be on the military, but there would probably be much chaos all around."

"What do you mean by 'chaos all around'?" I asked curiously.

"I mean that people from all over the world who have heard of the Philosophers Stone will be flocking here into Central just to get there hands on it. And we don't want something like that to ever happen."

"Oh."

"When should I go see?"

The Fuhrer turned back around to face me.

"Looks like we have some more visitors. Come in."

_But nobody was knocking. Not even I could here anyone there, and I've got cat senses!_

Edo walked inside the room. Al wasn't around.

"Wait a minute…..why the _hell_ is _he_ here?!" I snarled at Edo and the Fuhrer.

Edo rolled his eyes casually. "Gee thanks." He then pointed one finger at me. "I could say the same thing to you."

"I called you both here for a reason. Caram, while on your mission it may be dangerous, so I've decided for you to be accompanied by Edward."

"WHAT?!?!" I screamed with flaring eyes.

I slammed my hands so hard onto the fuhrer's desk that an entire stack of papers went flying onto the floor. "Why the _hell_ do I have to be accompanied by HIM?!"

"Hey!" Edo yelled in my face. "It's not like I ASKED to be with you either! Why do I have to go with this violent, self-inflated GIRL?!?!"

"SELF-INFLATED?!?! Coming from someone like YOU, that's a compliment."

"What?!?! What are you saying?!"

"Oh what, are you so short that everything I say goes over your head and misses your ears completely?! Or is it just that you're so dense that you block out the rest of the world with a shield of stupidity?!?!?!"

"Well, I hate to interrupt this lovely argument…" Sighed the Fuhrer. "But Nonetheless, this mission would be too dangerous for a young girl like you to go on alone. No matter how powerful you are." Then the Fuhrer shifted his eyes towards Edo. "And the same goes for you Edward.\"

"Feh." Spat Edo.

"Heh heh….."

"What?" Edo asked.

"He called you a girl….ha ha ha!" I laughed at Edo loudly.

"Grrr…." Edo blushed a light pinkish-color across his cheeks in embarrassment. "Sh-shutup…" He stuttered.

"Anyways," The Fuhrer interrupted Edo and I. "You two are to go to warehouse 13 tonight together. Caram," He pointed his index finger at me. "You are to search the premises for any strange things. People, things out of place, etc. But most of all, be on the lookout. And you Edward," He then pointed his finger at Edo. "You are to protect her. If anything happens to her, I'm leaving you held responsible."

Edo nodded his head in defeat. "Fine…"

"Now, it's getting pretty late, so I think you two should go now."

Edo walked out the door immediately while I took my time.

As I turned towards the door to leave, the Fuhrer stopped me.

"Caram."

"Yes?" I asked, looking at the Fuhrer out of the corner of my eye.

He lowered his head and looked at me very, VERY seriously.

"Be very careful if you run into any trouble. I don't want anything bad to happen to someone like you."

"_Someone like me?"_ I wondered to myself. "Okay." I replied as I turned the doorknob and left the Fuhrer's office and closed the door behind me.

After the door to the Fuhrer's office was closed behind me and I was standing in the hallway, I looked up at the ceiling light that was flickering.

_Rumors about the Philosopher's Stone have always been going around here, so why do I have to look into them now??? _I wondered.

Down at the front doors of the building stood Edo leaning against the wall. "Ready to go?" He asked.

"Definitely."

Taking a short breath of air, I walked down the hallway.

With the sound of each step, came more and more curiousity as to why I even had to do this search in the first place.

* * *

Night Fall 

I stood directly outside of the doors of Warehouse 13. The wind howling softly.

"It's getting colder outside… Cold enough for some snow maybe? Hopefully."

"Well, no use in just standing here. Might as well get it over with." I sighed.

Edo stood right beside me in front of the door and watched. The doors were tall, old, and large. They looked some-what heavy and hard to open.

I looked around for a lock, but there wasn't one. Why would the military keep something like this unlocked?

"Whatever then…"

Edo tried to open the doors, but they were too old and rusty to budge, so I place my hands on the doors and braced my feet firmly on the ground.

I closed my eyes and centered my thoughts into the door. Lights filled the cracks of the doors, and slowly they opened. Loud noises came from the doors because of their age.

"Whoa…how did you do that?" Edo asked.

"Magic. Duh." I replied matter-of-factly.

"Ooooh…right." Edo looked down embarrassedly at the ground.

I ignored him and walked inside of Warehouse 13 through the doors.

Edo walked in right behind me.

Inside of the Warehouse, the footsteps echoed off the walls and reverberated back into my eardrums.

The floor wasn't even a floor at all; it was just a dirt ground. And the walls were dark and rusty. The warehouse had a certain strange "smell" to it.

I covered my nose with my sleeve and squinted my eyes. "What's that SMELL???" I asked in disgust, to nobody specifically. Edo covered his nose as well.

"So then, what should we do now?" I asked him.

"Well, what exactly ARE we supposed to be searching for?" Edo shrugged his shoulders. "I mean, all he told me was to look for strange things. But what KIND of strange things?" Edo looked at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing…"

I walked slowly into the middle of the room. Dirt crunched underneath my feet.

Edo walked up a stair case and disappeared.

Something about the middle of the room was very strange. In the ceiling there was a large hole in it letting the moonlight shine through. The hole looked like it had been worn over the years, and the roof had just finally caved in.

The moonlight danced on the floor in a perfect circle. Almost so perfect that it seemed some-what unnatural.

I stood directly in the middle of the circle and stared up at the moon. Not a cloud was in sight.

I shifted my weight and leaned on my right leg.

"A full moon…."

Closing my eyes, I reached my arms up to the moon and took in a deep breathe.

_What's going on…? Why does he want me to search?_

I then opened my eyes.

Immediately they stared at something behind me. I could see something--or someONE—behind me, lurking in the shadows.

A very quiet laugh echoed into the deep areas of my eardrums, and into the back of my brain. So quiet that I doubted if I had really even heard anything or not.

--------Well, look at what we have here. A little lost baby chick?-------

I put my arms down slowly, not moving my eyes even for a second. But at the same time I did not changed my position of where I was standing. My back stayed facing who or what was speaking. "Come out. You coward."

--------Go back home, baby chick. Go back. You may get hurt.---------

"If you don't show yourself then I'll just rip out your vocal chords so you'll shutup."

---------My my…our little baby chick is a blood thirsty one--------

"Fine." I cracked my knuckles and walked a couple of steps in the direction of the voice with ice-cold, penetrating eyes. "So, how do you want them? Your eyes of course. Scrambled, Over-Easy, Sunny Side Up, Filayed…"

---------Baby chick's should not behave in such a way…at least not one is beautiful as you--------

I kept on listing. "Flambayed, Rare, Medium Rare, Well Done-" Suddenly, something shot past me.

It came so close to me that I felt it's presence for a brief second on the left side of me. It was so fast that my hair and the him of my skirt both fluttered softly from the wind of it's speed.

I turned around quickly and shot my right arm in an attack before the blink of an eye.

But it grabbed my arm and stopped me.

I looked up at it.

And it was no longer an "it"…

But a "someone"….

….and to be more correct….

…a boy.

The boy was just a couple of inches taller than me. He had very pale skin, dark purple eyes, green hair, and a slithery smile.

"I told you before, baby chicks should be less blood thirsty."

"Gr…" I yanked my arm back, but he didn't let go.

"Now now, that's no way for you to be, my little baby chick."

"Grrrrr….." I grit my teeth together hard in anger.

He looked up without moving his head. "Now then, what should I do with, my little chick? You've been a very bad girl lately…"

His attitude was really starting to become annoying.

I spoke in a raspy voice. "If you call me…'baby chick'…or 'little chick'….or anything ELSE….again….I'm gonna-"

"You're gonna what?" He asked cockily. He cut me off before I could finish my sentence.

"Do this!" I kicked him so fast and hard that he loosened his grip on my hand just enough for me to get away.

I turned backwards on my left hand and gained some space between us.

Envy stood up as strait as a board and put one hand on his hip. Still smiling that snake-like smile of his.

"For such a young baby, you sure have spunk." He leant forward and narrowed his eyes with a crocked smile. "I _like _that in little chicks like you." He took a step closer.

And I took one step backwards.

"Stop CALLING ME THAT!!!"

I grit my teeth even harder together.

I kicked up a rusty old pipe lying on the ground. It flipped in the air a couple of times and then I reached out to catch it. I rested the pipe on both of my shoulders, hanging both of my wrists over it. One on each side.

"Who are you?" I asked him.

He cackled and took a few slow steady steps forward. He didn't stop walking.

"My name is Envy." He said, taking another step.

"Envy?" I asked.

"Yes, Envy."

He took another step with every sentence spoken.

"And why are you here?" I asked accusingly pointing the pipe at him.

"You'll find out in due time Baby Chick. Due time…"

"And what's _that _supposed to mean?"

"Well, you sure do have a lot of questions now don't you? You're just full of them aren't you? If you're patient, I might tell you Baby Chick."

* * *

------------ED'S POV------------

The walls upstairs were covered in thick grime and dust. Caramel had taken the downstairs to search while I took the upstairs.

I looked up at the ceiling and saw that it was covered in drawings. They weren't anything specific, just scribbles. The walls had similar drawings of scribbles. But one wall caught my eye.

I walked up to the wall. The drawing on this wall wasn't a stick person, but of stick-figure people. It looked like something done by a four year old. It should one stick person with a smile on it's face, but half of it's face was completely covered by a bloody hand streak.

* * *

I pointed the end of the rusty old pipe right at Envy's face accusingly. "And I wouldn't HAVE so many questions if you'd just ANSWER some of them!" 

Envy looked very amused and then said. "Oh, but then what fun would that be? That just saps all my fun out of torturing you..."

Envy grabbed the pipe and got in my face with his crooked smile. "Besides, there's no point in you knowing right now, so leave! You'll find out eventually...maybe." He then shoved me with the pipe.

* * *

----ED'S POV---

I followed the long hand streak of blood from one end of the wall to the other end. The blood faded out every so often.

At the end of the wall, there was a door. The door was covered in streaks of blood, and so was the knob. "Disgusting..."

I turned the knob and opened the door, walking into the dark room. It smelled overwhelmingly of death. Yet there were no bodies around anywhere at all.

The smell was very old too. It smelled like it must've set in some time ago. So the bodies must've been removed a very long time ago.

I searched along the wall for a light switch, but couldn't find one. There didn't seem to be much in the room though, yet something felt like it was watching me from the dark. I couldn't see it even when I tried to. I shoved my hands into my pockets. "Guess there's no reason to keep wandering on around in here now is there?"

But still...

Why was there so much blood everywhere?

I looked down at the floor for a moment in the darkness. "What could've caused...huh?"

On the floor was a very faint circle. It looked like it MIGHT'VE been an alchemy circle, but it didn't look like one that I had ever seen before.

Then I thought: Maybe it's NOT an alchemy circle?

I mean, there was the possibility that it could've been black-magic circle or something. I decided to find Caramel and show her, and see if she might at least know if whether or not it's a black magic circle or something.

* * *

THUNK

I landed on the floor with the pipe rolling off into a corner. Envy stood directly over me cackling down at me. I glared back at him.

'You should really learn your place here, girl."

He laughed.

I spat on the ground in resentment. "There ain't NO WAY I'm gonna be backin' down just cuz' you think you're better 'en me. That ain't how it works."

"Oh yes it is."

"Oh _no it ain't!_"

He cackled again.

"You have so much more to learn before you're ready."

"Huh?" I asked. "What do you mean 'before you're ready'???"

"I mean what I say. Before you're ready. And it looks like you've got a long way to go before you're even ready to know what it is that you need to be ready FOR."

"What the fuck does that mean???" I asked cocking my head to one side staring blankly at him. "That sure as hell is a mouth-ful..."

* * *

Envy looked up at the ceiling smiling. "Looks like our 'chat' is gonna be cut short now..."

"...huh?" I looked at the top of the stairway and heard faint footsteps.

"Looks like I have to leave now..." He said still looking up at the ceiling. Envy looked back at me. "Parting is such sweet sorrow." He still smiled!

"Wh-what?" I grabbed the pipe. "WADDA' FUCK IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!?!"

He just smirked and within a couple of blinks, he was out of sight.

I just sat there blankly.

_What the hell was that?!?!_

* * *

"Hey!"

Edo was yelling at me from the top of the staircase.

"What?"

"Come 'ere! Quick!"

I got up still holding onto the pipe and walked to the base of the stairs. I held onto the banister with my free-hand and looked up at Edo before going up the steps. "What'd you find?"

"Just follow me, stupid!"

"Hey!" I clenched my fist and glared with half-slits for eyes and fangs showing. "Don't call ME stupid when you're the one who doesn't have enough sense to be more QUIET in a place so old that it could collapse from your banshee-yelling! Retard!"

* * *

Edo lead me through a room that reeked. My cats nose was too sensitive to handle the smell, so i had to stop breathing and cover my nose.

Edo looked at me while still walking in front of me. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just...this smell...it's so strong... What is...it?"

Stupid question.

images of dead corpses, flames, exploding buildings, and the smell of gasoline flashed through my mind. All too familiar memories that I've always tried to forget. But worst of all, the smell...the smell...of death...was what it was. How could I forget that? It was more familiar than anything else.

* * *

Edo looked at me with a sudden expression of sorrow, but he didn't say a word. He just looked back in front of him and kept walking.

And then, there was a door.

What is this?

Edo stopped and slowly turned the knob. He opened the door.

The smell of death became much, much stronger than before.

"What...?" The room's walls were covered with blood.

* * *

Edo walked to the middle of the room and crouched down, pointing at the floor. He beckoned for me to come. 

I walked up and stood right by Edo, getting on my hands and knees on the floor.

"Can you tell what this is?"

He was pointing at a faint circle made of blood.

"Do you think it's an alchemy circle of some sort? Or is it something else?"

I looked at the circle with shock and wide eyes. I looked back up at Edo. "What else do you think it could be if you don't think it's an alchemy circle?"

"Well..." He looked slightly embarrassed. "Well...maybe some kind of Black Magic or something?"

I looked back down at the circle seriously. "No...this is no alchemy circle."

"Really?"

"Definitely."

This kind of Magic however, was not known as a type of Black Magic, but something much worse. I'd only heard myths about this kind of magic...

"But it's not Black Magic either."

"Huh? Then what could it be if it's not Magic?" Edo asked looking at me confused.

"No, I didn't say it wasn't a type of Magic. Just not a type of Black Magic."

"But I thought that Black Magic was the worst kind of Magic that there was?"

"No. It's actually second."

Still on my hands and knees, I supported myself with my left hand and touched the circle with my right hand.

There was a slight jolt of energy from the circle, but it quickly faded away. Like the circle was giving one last bit of power until it finally died.

"You see Edo, there is a type of magic out there that is so dangerous and difficult that most witches and wizards like myself only hear about through legends. It's called 'Black Blood.' The legend is, is that only witches and wizards of very specific bloodlines can ever perform this kind of magic. It was created during the days of when witches and wizards were hung for being of magic blood. This magic was created originally to save the magic people and wreak havoc and utter chaos amongst the humans who massacred us."

I traced the outline of the circle with my right hand.

"But it became a tool. More of a torture device. And after awhile, it wasn't just used on humans anymore. The beginning of it started out as murder towards the human race, but then quickly became a more psychotic type of magic. It can be used for anything from destroying an entire continent, to even opening the gates..." I stuttered for a moment.

Edo looked at me with concern. "You mean the gates to the non-alchemy world?"

"No."

"Then to where?"

"...to hell."

Edo looked shocked.

"However, this magic has been forbidden for thousands of years. But unlike alchemy where if you do something forbidden, you pay a price."

Edo held is right arm with his left hand. "Yeah..." he said solemnly.

"In any kind of 'forbidden magic', there is no consequence. So you see, if someone does something like Black Magic or Black Blood Magic, then there will never be anything that they would ever lose in return. In other words..."

I looked up and stared at Edo directly in the eye. "...someone made this circle and used some kind of Black Blood Magic for something grotesque. And they most definitely have done much, MUCH more..."

"...and they have never lost anything from it..."

"Exactly."

"But then how do we know how old this circle is?"

"We don't. Not even magic could figure that out."

There was a few moments of silence between us.

"Well, I guess we should go back and tell the fuhrer what we found." Edo said, getting up slowly from the ground.

"Yeah...I guess your right."

_But why would someone have used Black Blood Magic? What did they use it for? And what kind did they use?_

After getting up, I stood and looked around the room for a moment.

_And why did they perform it in a military building?_

* * *

Edo and I walked out of the old rickety building. The outside was nearly pitch-black, if it wasn't for the light poles along the way. 

While walking, I looked up at the sky. "So what time do you think it is?"

Edo thought for a moment, looked up at the sky too, and then answered. "Well...probably around 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. I guess."

"Shit." I narrowed my eyes tiredly and sighed. "...I'm gonna be REALLY tired tomorrow...fuck that."

Edo smirked. "And that wouldn't be good. You're even louder when you're tired!"

"Grrr..." I snarled at him. I stretched both of my arms behind my head out of exhaustion. "I'd punch you in the face ya' frickin idiot, if I didn't have a policy against hurting small children, old people, and small creatures whose species name begins with a 'sh' and ends with a 'rimp'."

"Hey! I am NOT a shrimp!" Edo started flailing about, and then punched a light pole.

"Nyaaaah!" I stuck out my tongue and pulled down my lower eyelid.

Edo stopped and put one hand on his forehead. "Geez you sure are stubborn. Why did I have to get stuck on this assignment with such a loud and foul-mouthed girl like you?" Then he said with a wirey smile: "They could've at least stuck me with a girl who didn't burn the retinas of your eyes when you'd look at her."

POW!

Edo sat on the ground with waterfall tears in his eyes rubbing the back of his head. "Wh-what was that for?! You could've given me a concussion!"

"And _you _shouldn't have called me ugly, you frickin idiot!"

I closed my eyes and turend around on one heel like a soldier, and began walking towards the military H.Q. Leaving Edo on the ground.

"Hey!" Edo shuffled to hi feet and started running after me trying to catch up, but I didn't slow down a bit. "Wait for me dammit!"

"How 'bout you just hurry it up slow poke?!" I replied back without slowing my pace or even looking at him.

* * *

Edo and I stood directly outside of the large doors that lead inside of military H.Q. in the spotlight.

He turned to me and ask: "Should we go tell Mustang or the Fuhrer?"

I sighed and shrugged my shoulders. "I'm really not sure... If we tell Mustang he's bound to say something pompous. But if we tell the Fuhrer, then..." I stopped before I finished my sentence.

"Then what?"

I stayed silent. If I told him what I wanted to say, then he would've started asking a lot of questions. _Then whatever's going on might trigger something worse to happen._ Is what I was going to say.

* * *

I looked down out of silent-shame.

Edo leaned over in confusion to look at my face. "...what?"

"...nothing." I replied. "It's none of your business."

Edo started to look like he was getting angry with me. "..."

_But really, who should I tell? Probably Mustang... But if I don't tell the Fuhrer then he'll know I found something... But still... And I don't want to wait until tomorrow morning to tell Mustang about it either...would he even be up this late? Doubt it. Unless he's either hiding something from me, or is just stupider than I thought._

"I think we should go and tell Mustang about it." I said breaking the silence between Edo and I.

Edo looked up at me. "Okay, but why?"

"I just think we should."

"Riiiight. Anyways, I doubt he's up this late."

I crossed my right leg over my left leg and leaned against the side of the door. "If he's sleeping or not doesn't bother me. If he's not in his office, then I'll just go to his _house_ and wake him up myself. Doesn't matter to me."

With one eyebrow cocked in disbelief, he said: "You really ARE reckless, aren't you."

I snorted.

"-sigh- Guess that answers my question."

* * *

I grabbed the door handles and shook them. "God dammit, it's fuckin locked."

I placed my hands on the door to open it with magic again, but this time Edo grabbed my right arm, stopping me. "Let me do it this time."

"Why?"

"Because you've used your magic for nearly everything! Give me a chance to use my alchemy at least!"

"Riiiiiiiight. Whatever."

Edo clapped his hands and opened the door with his alchemy.

I walked inside with my hands on my hips looking around. "Damn...it sure is dark in here."

"Yeah."

"Kinda creepy with nobody here at 2:00 a.m." I shuttered.

* * *

Our footsteps echoed throughout the desolate building.

The walls seemed much larger than usual, and much more haunting as well.

The shadows stretched all the way from the base of the walls to the ceiling. The ceiling lights swayed and creaked slightly, causing me to jump a little.

Edo smiled a troll-smile. "What's the matter? You scared or something?"

"N-no."

"Ha ha."

"Don't laugh!"

* * *

Once we got to the base of the stairs leading up to the floor with Mustang's office, I grabbed onto the large banister and stood for a few moments staring up the stairs. There were no lights on up there. It was completely dark. I shuttered again. "Great..." 

Edo started up the stairs ahead of me and tripped on the top stair.

"Ha ha. Look who has the last laugh?" I giggled pointing at him.

He blushed very, VERY faintly and grit his teeth snarling. "Grrr...can't you do something about this damn lighting?! I tripped because I couldn't see anything up here!"

I thought for a few moments on what kind of magic to use, then I placed my hands into the shape of a ball and created a ball of bright light that lit up the entire hallway of that floor, and then placed the light on my left hand. the light hovered about one or two inches in the air above my hand. I held my hand up to level with my shoulder.

"Well, that definitely did the trick." He said.

We walked down the hall to Mustang's office. I shock the handles on his office door. "How strange..."

"What?"

I shoved the doors wide opened.

"Look. It's not looked. God that's just like Mustang to be lazy and not lock his office door." I looked around the room with half-circle eyes smugly. "I should steal something precious of his just to show him why he shouldn't be so frickin lazy all the time...heh-heh."

Edo just shrugged his shoulders and walked over towards Mustang's desk.

* * *

Suddenly, someone placed a large warm hand on my right shoulder. "What the hell are you two doing up here?!"

"EYAAAAAAAH!!!" I screamed so loudly that Edo had to cover his ears.

"WHEN IS THERE A TIME OF DAY OR NIGHT THAT YOU'RE AREN'T LOUD DAMMIT?!?!?!?!?!" Edo yelled at me.

Holding my right hand on my throbbing heart, I looked to see who it was.

"God dammit Mustang!"

Mustang stood there with a lantern in his hand very staring at me very seriously. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"No not really..." I said crudely, looking in the opposite direction.

"It's past 2:00 a.m.! And what are you doing here?!"

Edo spoke up. "We got done searching in Warehouse 13, and we had something to tell you."

Mustang suddenly became very interested. "Really? Well couldn't you have waited until tomorrow to tell me?"  "No." I said, staring at him coldly. "It's really important. I just couldn't wait until tomorrow morning to tell you. I had to find you and tell you immediately."

* * *

Mustang sat walked over to his desk past Edo, pulled out his chair, and sat down looking at the both of us. "Well what is it then?"

I walked up to the window and stared out at the large full moon. "Have you ever heard of 'Black Blood Magic' Mustang?"

"Yes. But I heard it wasn't real."

"Yeah, well I thought so to. But inside of Warehouse 13 there is a Black Blood circle on the floor."

Mustang let out a breath of surprise and turned around in his chair to face me, although my back was to him.

"And not only that, but there's a strong smell of death in the building." Edo said.

"Hmmm..." Mustang stared out the window while sitting in his chair. I turned around and faced him.

"Something is definitely not right here... Because when I touched the Black Blood circle, it gave off a slight magical charge. And that means that something has happened there within the last 100 years."

"100 years? But if something happened that long ago, then it wouldn't be that important now, right?" Edo asked.

"No. First of all, chances are that it happened much sooner than 100 years, but magic circle can only give off a charge within a 100 year time-slot of it's use. And second, even if it was 100 years ago, then the fact that Black Blood Magic was used would mean that it was something big. And whatever it was could still most definitely have some after-affects now. The use of Black Blood Magic and it's affects can last for hundred's and hundred's of years after it's original use, even thought the magical charge of it's circle might've worn off. THAT is one of the very many reasons why Black Blood Magic is so dangerous."

* * *

Mustang thought deeply for a few moments, and then said: "I think I'll go into this Black Blood Magic a little more..." 

SLAM!

I slammed my hand on the window. Both Edo and Mustang jumped from being startled and looked up at me.

"Promise me that you'll _never _pursue Black Blood Magic in any way _ever! _Do you understand me? Don't you _ever _do that!"

"Why not?" Mustang asked.

"Because..." I clenched my fists together tightly. "Black Blood Magic was designed to _destroy _humans. If a human ever tried to perform the magic in ANY way at all they will die instantly! Black Blood is the most powerful form of magic there is. In fact, it's so powerful that only a small handful of pure-blood witches and wizards can even _survive _after performing it. Others also die instantly."

"Wow..."

"So don't EVER do that without me! If you do, then you will most likely die! However, if I help you, then chances are you won't die, because I'm a pure-blood witch and so your chances of living would be greatly increased."

Mustang looked at me and then closed his eyes. "Alright. You'll help me." Mustang then turned and looked at the clock. "But since you two are still just kids, you should go back to your dorm rooms and get some sleep."

He then looked at Edo and I and smiled big and spoke in a baby-voice. "After all, it's past your bedtime!"

"SHUTUP!" We yelled in unison, before walking out of his office.

* * *

The grass outside was already wet with morning dew. You could hear the crickets chirping their songs all around.

"Sooo..." Edo said slowly, trying to break the awkward silence. He looked at me and spoke sarcastically: "Does widdle Caramel need me to walk her back to her dorm? Or can she make it on her own wike a big girl?" He snickered.

"SHUTUP BASTARD!"

I ran off away from Edo towards the women's dorms.

"Ah! Hey! I didn't mean it-"

* * *

In the dorms, there were always people up around and about, so it wasn't nearly as creepy as H.Q. was. Plus, all the lights were on. There is no curfew here.

I walked up the stairs to my dorm room and jumbled around for the right key to my room.

_Why was there a Black Blood Magic circle in Warehouse 13? And who was that 'Envy' guy??? He was so weird!_

* * *

I got into my dorm room finally, and locked the door behind me. I changed into my large, over-sized T-shirt to sleep in and started to climb into bed. My last thoughts before I fell asleep were of Mustang, Edo, the Black Blood Magic circle, Warehouse 13, and Envy.

_Damn you, Envy!_

My eyes closed half-way sleepily.

_How dare he call me a "Baby Chick" like that?! That was just too creepy..._

Finally, my eyes closed completely, and fell into a deep, deep slumber.

**well, finally the fourth chapter is done! it took me about three months to get it done too!!! wow...i apologize for the major delay...the fifth chapter is already half-way done, so it shouldn't take even NEARLY that much time to finish though!!!!!**


	5. Maireann Croi Eadrom I Bhfad

_**Maireann Croi Eadrom I Bhfad**_

"**A Light Heart Lives Longest."**

**Disclaimer: well, here it is. The fifth chapter of my story. This was really hard to come up with, especially since I had to use this chapter as an English class assignment. It's kinda confusing as to why….(unless u sit by me in english) so don't ask…… -sweatdrop- anyways, I don't own fma.**

I stared out my window sill, resting my chin lightly on my hand, gently rocking my arm.

The breeze blew gently through the clean, crisp air of the last few days of fall, carrying my long strands of hair swiftly about through the wind.

I closed my eyes slowly and began to drift off to sleep and dream.

But these were not the happy, delicate dreams of other worlds and happy things, but dreams of the past of which I had never had any intentions of remembering.

----DREAM-----

"…"

"Well, well….who is this little girl?"

"…"

"Well, my name is King Bradley. Fuhrer King Bradley."

"F….Fuhrer…???"

"Yes."

"Oooh….M….my name….I…"

"It's alright. You don't need to tell me if you are not ready to tell me your name yet. So, where are your parents?"

"They…are gone…."

"Oh…I see…well, what about siblings?"

"G-gone."

"Gone? Well, then you come with me and we will surely find someplace for you to stay until we find your family. But I will need your name…"

"Uh…"

"Still not ready then? Alright then. Colonel Mustang?"

"Yes?"

"From now on, you will be in charge of this little girl until we find her someplace to stay."

"Right."

"Is that okay with you, little girl?"

"…."

-----END DREAM-----

"Hmmm…grmmm…"

The feeling of ice-cold rain drops on my cheek woke me up. Looking outside of the window, the sky was covered with dark gray rain clouds. My sensitive cat-like nose twitched slightly from the change in atmosphere.

The silver-spoon scent of rain wafted through the room, being carried gently by the cold wind. It was the subtle yet at the same time, very obvious scent of change.

Lazily, I opened my eyes half-way. "Something's happening."

But knowing that something will happen, and knowing what it _is_ that is going to happen are two _very_ different things.

The rain began to come pouring down even harder. The sky let out a bellowing roar of thunder. Everything outside became blurry from the shattering droplets of rain hitting the ground and buildings.

But there was something down below that I could see out of the corner of my eye. However, I couldn't tell what or who it could be, so out of curiosity I got slowly up and leaned far out from the window to get a better look at things. The rain trickled down my shoulders and off to the ground several dozen meters below. The wind blew harder, whipping my hair around every which-way.

I squinted my eyes to see what it was.

_Hmmm…It doesn't look like a person…and it's pretty dark colored…Oh!_

Looking and sounding surprised, I realized that it was just Alphonse.

"Oh. It's Alphonse!"

But that brought another question to mind…

"…what's he doing out in this rain?" I asked myself aloud curiously.

Ignoring the rain, I leaned over farther to see what he was doing. But the ledge to the window sill is very old, and was not strong enough to hold me up for very long.

With each inch that I had leaned farther, the ledge creaked a little bit more.

A loud snap came from the ledge, and within less than a moments notice, the entire window sill had snapped and given-way, causing me to fall onto the ground below.

Hitting the cold, hard, muddy ground, I blacked out for only a couple of seconds.

"A-are you okay?"

I opened my eyes slowly, sitting up and rubbing my back from the pain.

"Owww…"

"A-are you all right?"

I looked up slowly to see Alphonse standing over me holding a small baby kitten. The kitten had small brown eyes and its brown fur was covered in mud from the rain.

"Y-yeah….I think so…. What are you doing with that kitten?"

Alphonse looked down at the kitten. "Ummm…weeell…"

The kitten meowed.

"Uh…please….don't tell brother…"

"About what?"

"The cat…"

"Oooh. _Now_ I get it. You're hiding her from Edo, aren't you?" I asked raising one eyebrow curiously.

"Yeah." Alphonse sighed.

"Don't worry. I won't tell anyone. ESPECIALLY not that short, _moron_ who is practically the _prince_ of arrogance, marrying the PRINCESS OF IGNORANCE!!!!!!!" I yelled at the sky in mid-sentence.

Breathing hard with fiery-eyes from anger, I looked over at Alphonse who was now holding the kitten even more tightly, like he was afraid that if he let it go that I might accidentally kill it in a frenzy of anger, looked very surprised. And for about ten seconds, there was a very brief and awkward silence, until I turned my head away blushing from embarrassment.

"A-anyways-" I began to stutter.

"-you should probably find a place to keep the kitten for awhile. You should also make sure she has enough food to eat. Water too."

"But, where could she stay? Brother would eventually find her if she stayed with me…-sigh-"

Alphonse looked down at the cold muddy ground sadly. And as if the kitten understood, she meowed sadly as well.

Since the look of Al being so sad actually made _me_ feel bad for some reason, I decided to do something about it.

"How about I keep her for awhile?"

"Really?" Al looked back up at me immediately.

I put one hand behind my head and blushed awkwardly.

"Yeah…I mean, it wouldn't be right to just leave her out here in this storm all alone…"

I laughed casually, feeling more normal again.

"And besides, it doesn't matter how far I push the rules here, because Mustang won't do anything about it. Unless it's really bad…like killing something."

Alphonse laughed a very faint laugh, sounding more reassured that the kitten wasn't going to be completely abandoned now.

I could feel a sweat-drop forming behind my head.

_But then again, maybe I push things a little too far sometimes…I mean, I have been known to back-talk superiors…_

"Anyways, I have enough space in my room for her, and I've got plenty of food and water."

"Okay. Here you go."

Alphonse handed me the small furry kitten.

The kitten didn't fight me or anything, she just whimpered very quietly. I held her tightly to my chest and could feel her purring softly. She closed her eyes slowly, and gently fell asleep.

I said goodbye to Alphonse and hid the kitten underneath my arm so I could smuggle her into the dorms. Although, getting her past the security wasn't all that hard because the security officers never paid any attention to me anyways. They always seemed to look down on me, which always annoyed me.

Nobody was around the dorms in the mornings very much anymore. Everyone else in these dorms has _real_ positions in the military, so not only did they get wages, but they also have to be in their offices everyday. But I'm a "special case" as Mustang calls me; meaning I'm forced to work for no pay, but instead I get free room and board, and just as many privileges as the other officers. I also don't have set hours, so I can come in and out whenever I want to, unless there's something that Mustang or the Fuhrer wants me to do, then I have to show up.

Once we made it back to my room, I laid the kitten down on a dry blanket and rubbed her fur dry. She meowed happily.

I got up off the floor and walked into the closet, reached up and slid a box off the top shelf, all the while the little brown kitten was rubbing in-and-out between my ankles.

Opening the box, the scent of warm breads' and jelly wafted through the air.

I sat on the floor with the opened box of bread sitting in front of me. The kitten's nose wiggled, and she got up and walked over to the box of bread. She rested her head limply on my knee, looking up at me with large, begging brown eyes.

"Heh. Don't worry, this food isn't for me, it's for you. Here you go." I said to her, breaking a loaf of bread in half and giving her one half of it. The other I kept.

She gobbled up the bread in an instant hungrily.

"Wow. You really must hungry then huh?"

I got out another loaf of bread and this time gave her the whole loaf.

Looking down at her, I said aloud: "Well, guess I should give you a name then. I know, I think I'll call you…Pocky!"

She looked at me with her head cocked to one side.

"-giggle- Yes…you are now my Pocky…and I shall call you Pocky…"

"Meow." She meowed softly.

"What? I know, I know…Pocky is an unusual name…but I LIKE it! So there! Nyah!" I stuck my tongue out at the kitten. A sweatdrop formed over my head.

_-sigh- I really need to stop talking to myself all the time like this…-sigh-_

"Well, it looks like you ate all the bread! Guess I should go and get some more."

I got up slowly from the floor and closed the empty box of bread and placing it back on top of the shelf in the closet.

"Dammit…I hate how high this shelf is! And I'm 5ft 7in!"

Out of the corner of my eye, there was a small piece of paper that fluttered down from one of the other shelves in the small closet.

"Helloooo." I said aloud glancing down at the paper. I squatted down and turned over the paper to see what it was.

"Oh…" It was an old picture of me, my mother, and my other siblings.

Gazing at the picture I started to notice that there were several discolored spots and small stains on the photo. "Has it really been that long?" I asked myself aloud, sighing again.

Looking closer at the photo, I remembered how long it must've been since the photo was taken. "About twelve years ago…when I was only two years old…"

"A picture's worth a thousand words as they say. And I can think of every one of them plus a bag 'o chips for this one."

Pocky came up by my side and pawed at my leg, trying to get my attention.

"All right already, I'm going!"

I quickly shoved the photo into my jacket's front pocket that I was wearing and headed for the door.

"Well, I'll be back later." I said to Squishy as I left to get some more food.

She meowed a soft reply in return.

Outside on the coble-stone street there was still lots of rain coming down. People were walking up and down the street, and in and out of buildings. Going about their everyday business.

I dodged the drops of rain, covering my head with one sleeve of my jacket.

A man driving a black colored car came roaring up behind me, running it's large wheels through two big rain puddles, causing one big splash and soaking me from head to toe.

The man opened his car door and stuck his head out of the door yelling at me "Watch where you're going girl!"

I turned around and immediately shot back acidicly: "Are you _blind?!_ Learn to drive that damn thing you moron!!!"

The man gave an angry look, but closed his car door and faded off down the street, so I started off back towards the store to buy some bread and meat.

Once I made it to Main Street, there were many people about; much bustling.

There were vendors setup all around the street, selling all sorts of things such as flowers, fruits, fish, vegetables, and other things like clothing and tools.

I stopped at one of the flower vendors and looked at the flowers that were for sale. They were selling some beautiful Sunflowers, so I pointed at one and bought it.

"One Sunflower please."

"Okay." The girl vendor handed me one of the large sunflowers.

"That'll be 60 sens."

"Okay. Here you go." I rummaged through my jacket pocket and took out three shiny bronze coins and sat them on top of the old wooden counter, grabbed the sunflower, and then headed towards a fish vendor, when I saw someone very familiar at another flower vendor buying a huge bouquet of flowers.

Looking more closely at the figure, I noticed he had strangely familiar black hair along with wide-rimed, coke bottle glasses.

"Uh...?"

It was Fuery!

_But why's he buying flowers??? And that many of them?_

I stood there, observing Fuery's actions. He gave the vendor some change and turned around.

Before he left, I called out to him waving one arm in the air. "Ah! Hey! Waaaaait!"

He looked over his shoulder nervously at me. But once he saw it was me, his expression relaxed. "Oh, hello Caram. What are you doing out here?"

I panted, a little out of breath. "I should ask _you _the same question!" Then, I pointed at the fish vendor. "I'm just buying some fish." Then I pointed at the bouquet of flowers that Fuery had just bought and was holding in his hand down at his side. "What in the world are you doing with those flowers, Fuery?"

"Oh...these? Um...well..." Fuery blushed and put his hand behind his head nervously. "Well...you see...there's this girl who has just been transferred to H.Q. here in Central, and I bought these to surprise her..."

"Heh-heh..."

* * *

FUERY'S POV 

She giggled warmly, like a small child.

_Why's she giggling?_

"Um...what's so funny?" I asked her, nervous about her answer.

Caramel let out one last giggle. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry... It's just that... It's kind of obvious _why _you're buying flowers for this girl, you know?"

I began stuttering nervously. "R-really? -sigh- And I was hoping that nobody would notice..." I closed my eyes and slumped over forward a slight bit.

Caram stopped laughing, her face changing to a look of concern mixed with embarassment. She came over to my side, trying to cheer me up. "Oh! Sorry, it's just that you're so shy about these kinds of things! I just think it's cute of you to be so nervous about it..."

* * *

Caramel grabbed the yellow sunflower that was sticking out from the neck of her shirt and manuvered the stem through her bangs, placing it gently in its spot. She then grabbed the bouquet that I had bought, and held it in front of her chest, clasped in between both hands. "Now, since neither of us really has anything to do today, how about we spend the day together?" Saying that with a warm smile made her look like a beautifully young bride on her wedding day. Which caught me off guard a bit. 

I smiled back at her. "Okay then. Let's go. So, what do you want to do today, princess?"

She looked a little surprised for a moment after being called "princess".

She looked down barely, out of embarassment. "Um...c-could you not call me that? It's kind of...strange..."

"Really? Strange? How strange?"

"Well...nobody has ever called me by a 'pet name' before..."

"Really? Not even your family? Your own parents?"

Still looking down, I could tell that the expression in her jaded eyes had changed to a lonelier expression than before. "No..."

"Oh..."

We both stood there awkwardly; looking down at the cold hard concrete pavement in silence.

* * *

plip 

plip

_Huh?_

Small droplets landed on the ground and dissolved, leaving only two small puddles.

_Is she crying?_

Looking back up, a feeling of relief came over me once I realized that it was just raining again.

Caram looked up at me through the corner of her eye, with her head still down-cast. Looking surprised and confused at the same time, she turned her head towards me, looking straight up at me with both eyes.

"Hm? What is it?" She asked curiously.

"Oh, nothing." I held my hand up over my head. "it's just starting to rain is all."

She looked up at the sky as well. "Oh..."

The raindrops started pouring down harder and harder, faster and faster.

"Maybe we should go into a shop over there." She pointed towards the plaza.

"Okay then."

Caram grabbed my arm and pulled me along behind her towards the plaza.

_Her hands...they're so small..._

* * *

__

"Come _on! _Hurry up, will you?!" The sound of Caram's voice broke through my thoughts. "Oh, right..."

Caram drug me along behind her by the arm all the way to the entrance of the store. She stopped for a few seconds to open the door. "Let's go in here!"

"Okay."

* * *

I started walking inside, until a small silhouette inside the store caught my eye.

My eyes focused more, when I realized who it was on the other side of the big glass window.

"Ah!"

_It's her!_

Caram looked at me and let go of the door handle. "What is it _now?"_

She looked closely at my face. "_Hmmm?"_

I turned away blushing. "I-It's...nothing...really..." Even though I was avoiding her gaze, I could still feel her eyes piercing into the back of my head.

* * *

"...Fuery?" 

_Oh._

The sound of a beautiful, soft voice.

"Fuery? Is that you?"

I slowly looked up.

Standing in front of me was...her.

"Ah...er..." I stuttered nervously. She was so beautiful. Long, flowing black hair that was tied near the ends of her hair in a bright red bow, glistening. She was very slender too, with pale skin and deep purple eyes. She was wearing a blue jacket that went to her hips and had brass buttons on the front, a long full-pleated brown skirt, and black tie-up boots.

"Oh Fuery...it is you!" She said enthusiastically.

She clasped her hands in front of her.

_Her hands...like porcelaine..._

She was like an angel.

Caramel, who was standing right beside me watching, looked at me, then her, then me again. After a second, a wiry smile creeped across her face. "Ohhhh, I get it..."

* * *

"Fuery? Who is this girl?"

"Oh that's Caramel."

"Hiya!" Caramel waved happily.

"Hello. My name's Grazia." Grazia smiled sweetly at Caramel.

Grazia then noticed the bouquet of flowers that I had. She looked at them very curiously.

"Oh! Here, these are for you." I handed the flowers to Grazia.

"Oh, thankyou very much." She smiled again. This time at me. My heart skipped a beat. "Th-they're for your transfer to Central H.Q."

Grazia closed her eyes and inhaled the scent of the flowers. "Ahhhh, I just love flowers."

"Eh-heh-heh..."

* * *

CARAMEL'S POV

As I stood there observing Fuery and Grazia, it hit me: _Fuery's in love...!_

I looked at Fuery understandingly.

_How cute!_

But Grazia didn't look very much older than me, so she was obviously younger than Fuery. Much younger.

"So Fuery, why aren't you at H.Q.? You're wearing your uniform, are you skipping out on your work?" Asked Grazia.

Fuery didn't really know what to say to that.

"Well...not EXACTLY-"

Grazia furrowed her eyebrows and put her hands on her hips, still holding the bouquet. "Fuery!!!" She started to sound angry. "You shouldn't do that! What if Colonel Mustang caught you out here?!"

"...I don't think that Mustang would really care all that much..." I said.

Grazia then looked at me with one eyebrow cocked. "Please don't take this offensively, but why are you two together?"

She then looked at Fuery. "Is she your girlfriend?"

Fuery looked shocked.

"No! Of course not! It's nothing like that! She's just a friend! That's all! Nothing else!"

"Really? Nothing...? Nothing at all?"

"Of course!"

I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against the outside of the glass-windowed door. "Gee thanks. But he's right. I mean seriously, he's 24! And besides-" I pointed my index finger at Fuery. "-he's not my type."

"Okay then..." Grazia sighed.

"So, you still haven't answered my question yet! Why are you skipping work today, Fuery?" She asked again, more accusingly than before.

Then I realized that Fuery hadn't told ME why either.

"Well actually..." Fuery then looked at me more seriously. "Caram, Colonel Mustang sent me to go look for you."

"Huh? But why?" _Today's a day-off for me though...so why would he need me?_

"He told me to tell you that he needed your help on something... He wouldn't tell me what it was, but he had all these old looking books on his desk. I think that he might want you to look through them or something."

_Old books...? Oh no... don't tell me he's..._

I sighed painfully. "Oh fuck...that's just great... I told that idiot not to...!!!"

Although I really didn't want to go, especially since it was now storming pretty hard again, I realized something.

_This would be a great way to give Fuery and Grazia some "alone time"!_

I turned and waved quickly at Fuery and Grazia.

"I'm sorry, but I've gotta go fast before that idiot does anything stupid like I think he is! Bye!"

* * *

Droplets of water flicked off the ends of my knee-length hair like a leather whip as I skidded immediately around and off towards the fish vendor. _But first, I've got to buy some more foor for Pocky!_

The rain was pouring down on my face so hard that it felt like hundreds of knives stabbing at me. _But I have to get some food for her..._

The roads were slick from being soaked.

The rain was falling at an angle, which meant that it was going to be a big, BIG storm.

_Damn, damn, damn!!!_

Reaching the fish vendor, I rummaged through my soaking pockets and pulled out two 500 sen bills that were mushed-up together from being in my pocket, and slammed them harshly onto the counter.

"Lordy..." The gruff looking fish vendor-man was startled for a second from the loud smack. He'd been occupied with another customer. He looked me up and down with raised eyebrows. "Hang on for a moment Miss, I'll be with you in just a second."

I looked over the back wall of the vendor cart, looking at all the different types of fish that were for sale.

But for a moment, I glanced over at the other customer through the thick soaking strands of hair that were stuck to my face. I narrowed my eyes to sarcastic half-circles. _Well...what are the odds..._

The other customer was Alphonse.

"Here you go." The vendor took some money from Al and gave him a big bag of different kinds of fish. "Thankyou." Al replied politely, as usual.

Al had already turned around to leave, but noticed me standing there out of the corner of his eye. "Oh! Hello again!"

Examining the bag of fish that he was holding, I asked "Al, what are you doing with all that fish?"

Alphonse looked down, looking like he was blushing, on the inside. "Well... I know you said you had plenty of food for the kitten and all... but... I was still kind of worried...and so-"

He shoved the bag of fish into my arms. "-I bought this all for you."

_Wh-wh-whaaaaa???_

AL'S POV

Caramel looked at the large bunch of fish in her hands with a very surprised yet confused look on her face.

She looked up at me with her large, emerald-green eyes. "You bought all this...for me?" She asked.

"Yeah. Please, take it!"

She gasped for a moment. Then after it sunk in, she smiled slowly. "Thankyou..." She didn't know what else to say.

I raised my hand in front of her.

"Oh, you don't need to thank me."

"You came out in this storm just to buy this fish for me? Really?"

"Heh...yeah..."  Her cheeks turned bright crimson-red, and she tried to hide her face behind the fish.

_For some reason, seeing her blush like this makes me want to do more stuff for her...something more... I wonder why..._

I can't quiet put my finger on it, or understand why, but she just looks so...soooo...different than her usually defensive self. It's surprising really. _But still...she just looks so...cute._

"Ahhh! It smells!!! She yelled, cringing.

"Well, it _is _fish. And it _is _raining."

"Yeah, but wait...what kinds of fish did you buy?"

"Just Tuna."  "Oh."

Caram lowered the fish, showing her wet, red face. "Thanks...I really have to go now! Bye!"

"Ah..."

She quickly ran off in the opposite direction, fading into the distance. The raindrops blurred her distant image even more.

"Bye..."

* * *

CARAMEL'S POV

Once I made it back to my room, I immediately shoved the fish into the refrigerator so they wouldn't rot while I was gone. Pocky weaved in-and-out between my legs. "Sorry, but I really have to go! I'll play with you later!"

I ran out the door hastily.

_Shit man! Shit! I was supposed to be in Mustang's office already god dmmit!!!_

The door slammed behind me, leaving Pocky behind and inside the dorm room.

* * *

**seeeee??? i TOLD u it wouldn't take me nearly as long to finish this chapter as it did the fourth one! oh but did u believe me??? HMMMMM?????? NOOOOOOOO!!!! why??? well...probably cuz im not very reliable anyways... -sweatdrop- anyways, please review. and if u flame then u best be prepared for me to cuss u out harder than uve ever heard before.**


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